LANSA Flight 508

LANSA Flight 508 was a plane crash that occurred on December 24, 1971 over the Peruvian Amazon jungle with a balance of 91 dead and with only one young survivor, Juliane Kopcke.

It is the deadliest lightning strike disaster in history.

Accident 

Flight 508 took off late around noon heading to Pucallpa and then continued to the city of Iquitos in the middle of the Peruvian jungle. 

It crossed the Peruvian Andes at 7000 m in good weather, having made its last report when it flew over Oyón in the Sierra de Lima, entering 40 minutes after takeoff in Amazonian skies where a bad weather front was germinating. The plane lost height to 6,000 m and began to shake, causing concern among the passengers. 

The developing storm was a Cumulonimbus type with intense electrical activity and the aircraft was subjected to turbulent air currents. 

The voice of a Flight attendant was heard over the loudspeakers: 



The shakes became more and more violent and the carry-on luggage spilled out of their cubicles. The plane descended about 4,000 m and the pilot was looking for denser air to make an emergency landing. 

At about 12:36 p.m., a lightning bolt is said to have struck the plane over the right wing and set fire to the fuel tank (a fact that was never actually proven with certainty), the fire causing general structural failure. that departed the aircraft at tail level: 



Juliane Koepcke, the only survivor, fell from an altitude of 2,000 meters, next to the burning wreckage of the plane, into the jungle.
References

Category:1971